www.xf650.de

hello, i'm sorry to write in english but i think you will better understand me since i don't know german...

i'm interested in buing a used freewind (models 97-99). i think its matches my needs and desires, but there are not many arroud here. so I don't know much about the liability or resistance of this bike.

i would like you to help me telling wich are the weak points of this bike, or the hot-spots i sould look when examinating a potencial buy.

i've already navigated trough some topics. i've found the partial trip counter failling when the battery is low (not a problem) and the oil leakage by the cilinder, beacause of blown away segments. is this problem common? or it happens only in bad treated motors?

i will use my freewind also on bad roads and do some country cross. it's ok with the bike?

kind regards.

i'm sorry for the bad technical english

Hasse hat geschrieben:i've already navigated trough some topics. i've found the partial trip counter failling when the battery is low (not a problem) and the oil leakage by the cilinder, beacause of blown away segments. is this problem common? or it happens only in bad treated motors?

i will use my freewind also on bad roads and do some country cross. it's ok with the bike?

Hello José,

welcome to our community.

In general the XF is very reliable. Mine never had a breakdown and I have never heared of real problems regarding reliabilty. It will simply take you everywhere. Don't be afraid of the list below, it sounds worse than it actually is. And keep in mind that it's cheaper than a BMW.

Common problems and faults are:
- Side stand to long. (Main stand is an absolute must, buy one if not supplied!)
- Rotor which drives the speedometer broken. (*Very* common. It's mostly is broken when front tire is changed.)
- Headlight blind from inside because of dust. (*Very* common. Happens to *all* XFs built before 2000 that have a certain mileage.)
- Engine leaking oil. (*Very* common. Mileage and amount of oil will vary, but I don't believe there's any XF with mileage above aprox. 40.000 km which doesn't leak at least a few drops.)
- Mediocre manufacturing quality. (Rusty screws, nuts and bolts. Certain colours fading, painting of frame not durable.)

When I'm compiling this it almost makes me sad because Suzuki hasn't even tried to do better with a little brush up. The post-99 models have most of this simple to detect faults, too. And then it was discontinued.

And for the bad roads:
First, almost every bike will do on bad roads to some extent, but enduros will do better. The XF is no enduro in the sense of the word.
Second, the guys on www.motorrad-weltreise.de toured the Americas with the XF. If i remember it correctly the XF did even better as a BMW which it accompanied.

See you,
Dirk

Hi José,

I have to agree with Dirk in all points and so you see that it would be very important that you are able too repair your bike yourself. First I think you could get problems with organizing repair stuff and second you should realize that it take time to work at the bike. But remembering that you are suppost to have much fun und many wonderful hours.

Best regards

Björn

Hi again.

thanks for your help
today i've tried the first freewind. and some questions apeeared to me.

it was a 97 model with 23.000km with no "maitainence book". overall it was great for a bike who have 7 years. no accident signs, perfect straight lines, all funccioning, but... i encoutered 2 problems.

the motor was fine but it went down suddendly 2 times. one when it was cold, ok, this happens, but when i was test-riddng it and stoped at a junction lights it went down again. i was stoped and with the clucht hold finding the neutral position. the "ralenti" was at 1500rpm and stable.
I know this happens to al monocilindric motors and happened even to mt 400cc, but is it common on the freewind? the ower confessed me later that it happened already to him. could it be solved raising the ralenti level or 1500rpm are enough? is it a bad sign that reveals pour motor heath?

the other "strrage thing" was when i was testing the front fork i felt som "crackin point" at the middle of the course. but overall it was good up-and-down normally. i didn't noticed when i was ridding it.

some hunches?

see you arround europe some day

Hasse hat geschrieben: the motor was fine but it went down suddendly 2 times. one when it was cold, ok, this happens, but when i was test-riddng it and stoped at a junction lights it went down again

When the XF is cold you have to keep the RPM up. The stopping engine at traffic signs isn't that common, but I've heard of it. Adjustment of the carburettors seems to be a solution.

Hasse hat geschrieben: the other "strrage thing" was when i was testing the front fork i felt som "crackin point" at the middle of the course. but overall it was good up-and-down normally. i didn't noticed when i was ridding it.

That's a damaged stearing head bearing and has to be fixed. Here in Germany that's about 80€ for the bearing plus fixing.

cu,
Dirk

hi freewinders

about the motor. yes could be some missing of caburator adjustment as that bike wasn't circulating freequently. the last check-up sould have been a long long time ago . hence it is not a good sign.

about the crank. all the other persons (including freewinders) talked about it ("damaged stearing head bearing") and it should be normal to replace those at 23.000km.

tanks once again. i think i will look around for other bikes because this one ir raises doubts enough and i will prefer used freewinds at dealers, beacause of the 1 year warranty.

thak you all